hackDread Wolf
by darkangelwp
Summary: Conner stumbles across a game. Not just any game. But one that takes him away from reality. It's an escape from everything-Superman, Cadmus, Luthor, etc., and he loves it. Everything is perfect...until the players start to fall into comas...Welcome...to The World...


Disclaimer: I own nothing but this idea! And I like to think it's a great one!

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><p>"<em>Everything about Mark Zuckerberg is pure hacker. Hackers don't take realities of the world for granted; they seek to break and rebuild what they don't like. They seek to outsmart the world." –Sarah Lacy.<em>

Chapter 1: Good-bye Reality…

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><p>Conner Kent was outside.<p>

Not just anywhere outside, in San Diego. Being the only member of the Young Justice team that needed only roughly two to four hours of sleep compared to his teammates, left Conner with a lot of time on his hands. Outside of the mandatory time for school, which the clone was _seriously_ starting to consider dropping all together since he knew everything they taught, the teen took on extra missions alone. He didn't need to go to school and didn't understand why Black Canary insisted that he keep going but the solo missions he took allowed him the chance to get away from the mountain for a while.

He liked his teammates, truly, he did. But sometimes it became too much. Hiding behind Sphere and Wolf only did so much. His little pack has been good to him and Conner likes to think he's done right by them, that he's cared for them better than most. Better than Superman.

The teen winces as his thoughts turn over to the Man of Steel. He'd been trying to avoid him, avoid thinking of him. But it only worked half of the time. It's what made these solo outings so important to him. That's why Conner needed to get away. Everything was steadily getting to him. The team, the missions, the villains, everything-_every little thing_- was just starting to grate on his nerves and he didn't know how to let it go. All of it had reminded him of Superman or Cadmus or Luthor and Conner just wanted all the madness to stop, to leave him alone. It felt like something had started to crawl underneath his skin and never left. Whatever it was had started to grow, to leave trails, stinging and burning, making him twitch. It had grown to the point that the teen was moments away from tearing his flesh off to get at the thing and make it _stop_.

He never got the chance. Red Tornado had shown up unexpectedly one night. Megan had decided to go to a sleepover, to get a "full earth experience." Superboy had been the only hero on base and the android needed a courier. The teen hadn't really expected much but the mission had gone off without any trouble and had checked in to confirm. Only he had gotten sidetracked, there had been an arcade, large and impossibly loud. There had been an hour free play special and Conner had gone in.

He spent the entire hour there. After that, he spent a considerable amount of his cash allowance at the arcade. He had met a few people, played side by side with other teens and younger kids.

Conner had had fun. The curling madness that threatened to rip him in two, to rend blood and sanity, had drained out of him.

The teen arrived back at base, calmer than he had felt since he first saw the moon so long ago. Since then, he's taken every solo mission available. Red Tornado never denies him. San Diego is his current haunt. It's also the beginning of the weekend so he could stay longer than a day if he wanted.

Sphere, camouflaged as a regular motorcycle, sticks to the back roads but keeps a close enough distance with him. Wolf stayed at the base and Conner was a little put off by that but there weren't a lot of places for the venom enhanced creature to find cover in San Diego.

It was a huge city. There were towering skyscrapers and lights and people and life. Conner looked forward to something new here. He'd been to other cities, seen museums and gone on group tours. He's walked boardwalks on the coast and sunbathed on Florida's beaches. He's never felt freer than outside the League, Luthor, Cadmus and _"family"_ than ever before. So Conner relishes being outside and takes the chance at every possible moment to get away, the farther the better.

Conner makes his way to a rather interesting group congregating around a large tour bus. They're students, for sure, since most seem to be around his age. There are only a few adults there and they were having trouble keeping order. It was easy enough to slip on board and there were plenty of seats for Conner to grab one for his lone self.

The teen sits back in his seat and listens to the random conversations between friends and lovers. The giggle of a girl and her friends mixes with the sordid whispers and exclamations of hormonal teens.

When they finally stop, it's in the courtyard of the CyberConnect Corporation. There is actually very little that Conner knew about this company. It wasn't a large contender like Lex Corp or Wayne Enterprises. It had a stable foundation for games but beyond that, the teen came up blank. There were two buildings on either side of the parked bus. There was one that was circular in shape. Almost dome like with solar panels and the other was a long rectangular office building or what looked like one, also with solar panels on the roof.

It's almost painfully easy to pretend to be part of the group. The other students were all too preoccupied with each other to notice an extra addition.

"Follow me, everyone!" chirps the happy tour guide assigned to the group. Conner stays to the back of the group keeping his distance to play the part of reluctant student and shuffles along after the others. No one notices him.

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><p>Edgar Flemmings is a rather unremarkable person, in a sense that he can be lost in a crowd. His cloths are plain, black slacks and a white shirt. His black hair is streaked with grey and his lips are pressed into a hard line. He is also very unhappy. As a Division One developer for the beta game Fragment, he needed a certain amount of gamer feedback to go forward with completion of the final phase for development. They only needed a small number of players but on this day, he was short one.<p>

That meant Flemmings was one player short of one concentrated group. The older man sighed through clenched teeth, fighting with the urge to throw something.

"Of course, it would be my luck."

He makes his way through the halls toward the testing facilities, reluctantly forcing himself to accept the loss. It is as he is passing the atrium connecting the west and east wings that he hears it. It is a familiar sound, the loud ruckus of teens.

Teens that are often riff with stress, school, relationships, and hormones. Teens that sometimes feel so out of control that they seek alternative avenues to gain even a little bit of control they seek even if it means talking and making noise. Before he realizes it, the developer is moving in the direction of the noise. He's on the second floor and peering over the railing before he realizes the full scope of his half-ass plan.

Flemming eyes the group of possible candidates. He only needs one. Exactly one. But the developer knows teens, has two of his own and remembers what it was like when he was a teen, himself. He knows the cliques and the groupies and loners. He dismisses the girls because the team has plenty of female players already. They're just short one male player.

That being said, he didn't want someone who was a part of the crowd or who everyone wanted to know. That would only drag too much attention. He looked over the group with a critical eye, analyzing every action and move the teens made before his gaze fell on one, at the back. The developer noticed right away that he kept his distance but remained close enough to be recognized as part of the tour. The teen was no more than sixteen, with jeans, boots, and a plain black shirt. The teen seemed to keep his focus on the guide and not once did he make motions to join any of the other teens. But what truly grabbed his attention, was how the teen skillfully avoided the gaze of the teachers. He shifted to one side of the group and hunkers down to make himself smaller, unnoticeable. That meant the boy was not actually supposed to be here.

That meant he was alone.

Perhaps he was as stowaway or a student getting a free trip away from school? Maybe, even, someone that was hiding from truancy, and not really a member of this school.

Runaway. Alone. Escaping. That made him _perfect_.

The older man quickly sought a way to get the boy alone or at the very least away from the group. Seeing the direction they were headed gave him the perfect opportunity. They were walking toward the north wing, to the right of one of the large staircases. It would only be a matter of cutting off the boy as the group passed.

Flemming wastes no time. With a brisk pace, he moves to intercept the teen and his group. He times it and moves right in front of the teen as the group of rowdy teens moves pass the stairs. It was a simple matter of stepping in the teen's way, a question already on his lips.

"Hello, young man. Might you be willing to give me a helping hand?" He doesn't move from in front of the teen, too determined to let him go.

"Why?" Conner asks, petulant and wary. The group he was with didn't look back and moved further away.

"I'm a part of the testing administration. Turns out one of our players can't make it and we really need one more player to receive an accurate feedback." The man tilts his head to the side and puts his finger on his chin, thoughtful.

"Oh but wait, you were with a group weren't you?" The man doesn't wait for a response, "I'm sure if I explained the situation your teacher won't mind parting with you for a few hours…"

The man trails off with a smile on his face as he turns to go after the group but Conner can't let him do that, can't let him know that he isn't really supposed to be here. He speaks before he thinks his action through.

"No." The man stops and turns to the teen, a smile still in place and something else in his gaze, "You didn't answer my question."

"Oh?"

"Why? Why ask me?" The man blinks in surprise, smile turning into a frown.

"Why not?" There is something there, again, but Conner can't place it. But his answer does ease the tension rolling through him. He doesn't know why or what compels him. Maybe it's because he needed help. The help of a "regular" teen versus a super-powered one and that made him curious.

"What do you need me to do?"

"Play a game. That's it." The man straightens his back, "It's a virtual online game. One that allows players to enter a completely fantastical world separated from reality."

"That sounds…pretty cool, I guess." Conner shifts his feet, unsure.

"You don't have to follow any rules. It's an open world, after all. You can do what you want, when you want and there is no one to tell you otherwise. You can go on a number of quests, search for treasure, make a guild and recruit members, and do it all with a character of your own making."

Conner was, now, interested-really, really interested. What the man was telling him sounded too good to be true. But…he wanted to try. To live, even if it's only a game, differently…it was more than he had now...

"Come this way, then," he says, "At least give it a try and I'll even put in a specialization for your character."

"Who are you anyway?"

"Oh!" the older man's face becomes flushed and gives an embarrassed smile, "Sorry about that. Got a bit carried away. Name's Flemmings, Division One developer. Pleased to meet you…?"

"Conner…" he looks away for a moment, then, after a beat, "…Kent."

"To the testing lounge then. It's only for a few hours. I'll let you know when your tour ends so you don't miss your bus. Sound good to you?"

"It's fine."

Conner follows the man down a bright hallway, sunlight streaming in from the large glass windows. The clone doesn't ask any more questions. He doesn't think that the developer is dangerous. Maybe a bit hyper-like Kid Flash full of sugar- but not dangerous and that's the only real reason the clone follows after the man. It only takes them a few minutes to reach the lounge.

And it really was a lounge area, small, but cozy.

There was a large couch, with a number of pillows, against one side of the wall and two large bean bag chairs, in one of two corners. There was also a small wooden coffee table placed in the middle with a laptop sitting on top. There was a strange device resting next to the computer that looked like a pair of high tech head phones.

"Here we are." Flemming gestures to the computer, "Pick any seat, make yourself comfortable and we can start."

Conner chooses to sit on the couch, right in front of the computer, and looks up at the developer expectantly.

"What we have here is the Beta version of the game called Fragment. It's not complete that's why we need a number of different players to test it out so that we can finish. The game is already loaded into the computer so all you have to do is make a character you want. But before that…"

Flemming turns the laptop to face him and starts typing away. He turns to look at Conner a few times muttering under his breath and 'hmming' before typing with renewed vigor. After another moment, he turns the laptop back to face the clone, presses a few more keys, and stops with a concentrated look on his face. Conner isn't sure what he's supposed to do so he just sits there. Fortunately, the teen doesn't have to wait long before Flemming is turning the computer again and typing away like mad. This doesn't go on for much longer before the man turns the laptop back to Conner with his hand poised in the air and a self-satisfied look on his face.

"Ta-da! I did promise you a little something special for your character, didn't I? Take a look."

Conner leans over to look at the screen and then reaches over to pull the laptop closer, completely missing the triumphed gleam in the man's eyes. The character on screen has a body similar in build to the clone, lean and strong, covered in form fitting black armor. Conner isn't sure what it's made of but it looked to be a mix of leather, mesh, and some kind of Kevlar. Conner didn't really know but it looked like it could take a few hits.

The character was wearing all black, trousers, long sleeved top, and wearing black flexible armored boots that reached up to the knees. The chest armor was almost corset like in design, black, crisscrossing and connecting the back and the front, while hugging the character's form. The sleeves were fitted tied into the arm guards. The armor extended over the hands forming fingerless gloves. One shoulder was protected by a padded smooth shoulder guard that doubled as a clasp. Covering the upper most portion of the body was a black cloak/shroud that trailed over his shoulder to fall over as a tattered short cloak. The character's face is hidden by a black hood and mask, so only the eyes are seen. But the most notable features of Conner's character are the prominent wolf ears poking through the hood, a tail lazily floated in the back, and each hand morphed between human and serrated claws.

"If there's anything you don't like you can change. Here…"

Flemming uses a few keystrokes and the hood and mask fall away, revealing the same black hair and blue eyes. It's a teen roughly fifteen or sixteen. Conner frowns and the copy looking back at him. Seeing that image staring back at him is disturbing…

…it makes him wonder if that's why Superman doesn't want to see him. Why the hero goes out of his way to avoid him. The teen grits his teeth and sets about changing the face looking back at him.

The actual face is not so bad. The jaw is soft, lips pulled into a small smile, eyes that were an Asian-European mix, and messy hair that spiked in all directions, strands falling over his eyebrows. Conner darkens the skin to a light tan, changes the dark hair to a stark snow white and the blue eyes to a brilliant violet-grey. Conner notices right away that the wolf features change color to match his character's hair. For the finish, Conner adds matching claw mark tribal tattoos on each cheek. He feels better about his character. He likes him.

After that Flemmings shows him the head piece. Conner listens to every direction with his eyes going wide with every word. The head phones aren't really headphones. They were the control visor. It was actually a head piece that connected the player to the game. The head band was actually a visor that went over the eyes.

"Well? Think you can handle it?"

Conner's eyes glow and a smile crawls its way across his face.

"Yeah."

Then, he places the visor on and logs in for the first time. For a moment his vision fades to nothing, to darkness. Then there is light, a rainbow of light, of blues and greens and reds. They whirl and dance around him. Conner's breathe hitches and he almost misses it. The teen turns his head all over; trying to see everything at once and there is a flash just beyond his vision. For a moment, Conner swore he saw a little girl.

Gold rings surround him and they sing. Before he realizes it, he's reaching out a hand and freezes. A hand- clawed and covered with a black glove. The singing gets louder and the gold rings glow brighter. He unconsciously braces himself-for what he doesn't know.

The lights and the colors disappear. His feet touch the ground-_the ground_! Conner opens his eyes and he gasps out loud. He's in a town, rural. There is dirt beneath his feet and shops before him. Before he takes his first step, a voice whispers in his ears...

"…Welcome, _Baron_, to the Fragment…"

Baron sees no one around, hears no extra footsteps, his wolf ears twitching and turning. Dismissing it as some kind of introduction into the game, the Twin Blade Werewolf named Baron takes his first step into Root Town. Leaving Conner and reality behind…

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><p>Right. So. That's the beginning! And if any of you are interested. Conner's character is using the outfit from Garrett from the game Thief, since he's going as a rogue type character with a Beast specialization. Yes. There will be more on that later.<p>

On another note. Is anyone having trouble posting crossovers? I asked a friend (he's a techie) and he said it was my connection just to run the anti-virus but it had me go 'what?' Like, I press the bubble for crossover and it gives me a notice but when I do regular, its fine. Is it me? Or ...so confused! o_O

Anyway! REad! REVIew!


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